Sunday, November 21, 2004

Turkey and the EU

Father Bryce links to this article which mentions, amongst other things, the possible admission of Turkey to EU Membership. The writer notes:

Perhaps the only thing that infuriates the European man-in-the-street more than such bureaucratic shiftiness is the United States' bafflingly consistent support for Turkish E.U. membership.

There's nothing baffling about it at all. America badly needs new allies in the Middle East and Turkey is not an unreasonable candidate. At the worst, the US will earn some 'brownie points' with the Turks by lobbying for EU membership. Best case scenario for the States would be Turkish admission into EU - it'd mean that Turkey would have to move more towards the Western Democratic model and would be included in any military alliances between the US and whatever military arm emerges from the EU in the future. (The current coolness between the US and France, Germany, et al is just a red herring. It should be seen as little more than a lovers tiff - in the long run, the US and Europe are 'on the same side' so far as military matters are concerned.)